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National Rally and Socialists did not back motion tabled by hard-left France Unbowed for forcing through budgetThe French prime minister, Francois Bayrou, has survived an initial confidence vote in parliament called for by the hard left, after the far-right National Rally (RN) and centre-left Socialists did not back the motion against him.On Wednesday, 128 lawmakers voted in favour of the first motion of no confidence, well short of the 289 votes that were needed. Continue reading...

US military academy clubs include Society of Women Engineers, Latin Cultural Club and an LGBTQ+ support group

Some civil servants determined to stick it out' as president and Elon Musk push for mass resignations: We're not even sure what is being offered is legal'

Southport killer was referred to Prevent three times but there was sufficient concern case should have been kept activeThis is from Max Kendix from the Times.EXCLUSIVE: More than five million lose the chance to vote in local elections this year. Elections cancelled in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Thurrock, Surrey, East and West Sussex, Hampshire and Isle of Wight - replaced with elections to new unitary councils in 2026 Continue reading...

Eleven people, including attacker, died in country's worst mass shooting with two more in intensive care

Tories call for police investigation into whether Labour leader broke lockdown rules when preparing Brexit speech

Gallery, whose success its director says others have learned from, is now expected to reopen in spring 2027We want to fling open the windows, let the light bounce in," said the architect Stephanie Macdonald in a building that has been known for being the opposite.You will get spectacular views of the Mersey," said Helen Legg, the director of Tate Liverpool. It is going to be magical for people." Continue reading...

Premier Chris Minns flags new measures, which would make certain types of protests a criminal offence, in response to racial hatred and antisemitism'

Lawsuit says its definition of harmful materials' forbidden to under 18s is vague and overbroad' and puts librarians at riskA group of major publishers in the US are suing the state of Idaho over a book-banning law.HB 710, enacted last July, forbids anyone under the age of 18 from accessing books deemed harmful to minors", including those depicting sexual conduct", in school or public libraries. Continue reading...

Combs denies wrongdoing alleged in three new lawsuits filed against rapper and mogul, including claim he effectively imprisoned' male adult entertainerA fresh round of lawsuits alleging sexual assault have been filed against Sean Diddy" Combs, though the rapper and mogul continues to deny wrongdoing.On Tuesday, a man filing in New York's Southern District court anonymously as John Doe alleged that Combs coerced him into sex acts over a number of years. The man, who worked as an adult entertainer in Las Vegas, claims he was hired by Combs in 2007 to perform a strip show, and was subsequently booked on other occasions lasting until 2012 at hotel rooms and Combs residences across the US. Continue reading...

Saints attorney maintains disclosure of messages showing team execs' aid in softening media coverage was violation'An attorney whose lawsuit discovered the existence of emails showing how top executives at the NFL's Saints and NBA's Pelicans tried to help New Orleans' Roman Catholic archdiocese soften critical news coverage about the church's management of a clergy-abuse scandal has challenged the sports teams' assertions that the communications were protected by a court order.Nonetheless, an attorney for the Saints on Tuesday issued a statement doubling down on his position that the material's disclosure to the press was a violation of [a] court order protecting them". Continue reading...

Cost efficiencies' programme planned for UK arm rocked by car loan commission scandal last NovemberStaff at Santander UK are bracing themselves for further job losses, as the bank confirmed it would push ahead with a cost-cutting programme after a 38% drop in full-year profits.An earnings report by the Madrid-based Banco Santander released on Wednesday showed that the UK was its only region to suffer a slump in profits for 2024, apart from a South American arm comprising Peru, Uruguay and Colombia. Continue reading...

Scientists in Nigeria found the insects carry infections resistant to last-resort antibiotics, adding to fears about superbugsFlies buzzing between beds may be spreading drug-resistant bugs among patients in hospitals, according to new research.Researchers from the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI) found that houseflies in Nigerian hospitals carry bacteria resistant to some key antibiotics, including those used only as a last resort. Continue reading...

Atrocity follows escape of thousands of male inmates amid chaos as Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seize eastern DRC cityHundreds of women were raped and burned alive during the chaos after a Rwandan-backed rebel group entered the Congolese city of Goma last week.The female inmates were attacked in their wing inside Goma's Munzenze prison during a mass jailbreak, according to a senior UN official. Continue reading...

Teenager was arrested after stabbing of Harvey Willgoose, also 15, at All Saints Catholic high school on MondayA 15-year-old boy has been charged with murder after the fatal stabbing of another boy at a school in Sheffield.Harvey Willgoose, 15, was stabbed on Monday at All Saints Catholic high school, where he was a pupil. Continue reading...

Six teal independents who defeated Liberals MPs at 2022 election all spent more than Labor's proposed cap in their successful campaigns

This blog is now closed

This blog is now closed

Thousands of locals and tourists have fled Greek island amid fears of bigger earthquake or volcanic eruptionOn the second day of feeling the ground shake under her feet, Veroniki Balabonidi decided it was to time to leave Santorini. At 4.30am on Sunday she and her two young children were on a ferry bound for the port of Piraeus, surrounded by other families fleeing the Aegean isle.It was absolutely packed with residents like us who had had enough of the uncertainty," she said, speaking from the home of her parents-in-law in Athens. Continue reading...

Indigenous woman's mother accuses Labor of trampling on our graves' as Anthony Carbines disputes coroner's findings

This blog is closed. Follow the latest on our new live blog hereThe second Israeli soldier killed in the attack at a military checkpoint in the West Bank earlier today has been named as 43-year-old reservist Avraham Tzvi Tzivka Friedman.The other man killed was earlier named as Ofer Yung, 39, a squad commander from Tel Aviv. Continue reading...

Inspectorate points to challenges including ban on using washing machines for knickers and difficulties with family contactWomen in prison are resorting to self-harm because of astonishing gaps" in basic services including strict time limits when contacting their children and bans from using washing machines for dirty underwear, according to a watchdog's report.A survey of women in prisons in England found that the frustrations of day-to-day life" and a lack of basic care" were driving many to hurt themselves. Continue reading...

Public Accounts Committee examined series of site purchases and found troubling culture that repeatedly wastes public money'The Home Office's plans to house asylum seekers reveal a dysfunctional culture of repeated mistakes and weak internal challenge" that wasted nearly 100m, parliament's spending watchdog has concluded.A Public Accounts Committee report said the department had a troubling culture that repeatedly wastes public money" after examining the acquisition of the 15.4m HMP Northeye site to house new arrivals. Continue reading...

Under current rules, civil child sexual abuse cases must be brought within three years of turning 18Hundreds of child rape survivors, including those targeted by grooming gangs, are expected to pursue their abusers in the courts after ministers scrapped a three-year time limit on compensation claims.Under reforms hailed by campaigners as a watershed moment", ministers said civil claims will no longer have to be brought within three years of a child abuse survivor's 18th birthday. Continue reading...

Perpetrator of shooting at Risbergska campus in Orebro believed to be among the dead, say policeAftonbladet daily is reporting, quoting local authorities, that an air ambulance is on its way to the scene.Separately, Dagens Nyheter daily is reporting a conversation with a manager of a pizza restaurant near the campus, who said 30 to 50 people fled to shooting to shelter there - shocked, but unharmed. Continue reading...

Laura Kyrke-Smith says perinatal mental health care in England is postcode lottery', with disadvantaged women more likely to miss outA new Labour MP will speak in parliament on Wednesday of her anguish over her friend's suicide just 10 weeks after giving birth - despite the friend having repeatedly sought help for her anxiety.Laura Kyrke-Smith, the MP for Aylesbury, will call for more specific mental health support to be embedded in maternity services. Continue reading...

Bereaved told police are looking into possible corporate and individual charges, after alleged negligence and cover-upPolice investigating dozens of deaths at an NHS trust are examining possible corporate and individual manslaughter charges, the Guardian can reveal, as bereaved families call for the executive team to resign.Sussex police are investigating a growing number of cases of alleged cover-up and avoidable harm, including at least 40 deaths, in the general surgery and neurosurgery departments of University hospitals Sussex NHS trust. Continue reading...

Navin Ramgoolam says Keir Starmer expressed confidence about finalising agreement within weeksDowning Street has refused to comment on the prospect of an imminent deal over the Chagos Islands, after the Mauritian prime minister said Keir Starmer had told him he was confident about finalising an agreement in the coming weeks.An interim deal on returning sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, which would maintain the key UK-US military base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, was agreed last year, building on work that began under the Conservative government. Continue reading...

Complaint by local lawyers to supreme court follows US demands to reduce China's alleged influence on waterway

Struggling company may require significantly more resources than roughly 6.3bn it previously indicatedThames Water may need as much as 10bn in debt and equity investment to repair its finances, according to a representative of creditors hoping to lend the struggling utility another 3bn.London's high court heard evidence on Tuesday that suggested the UK's largest water company may need significantly more resources than the roughly 6.3bn it has previously indicated. Continue reading...

Freeze to EU's LIFE programme funding would deprive 30 NGOs of up to 70% of annual incomesSeveral environmental NGOs could be effectively shut down in Europe, if a defunding push by rightwing MEPs is successful, campaigners say.At the same time that centre and far right MEPs are revving up strategies to defang, deregulate or decapitate the European Green Deal, an EU plan to cut emissions to net zero by 2050, a proposed funding freeze in the European Parliament would weaken green groups. Continue reading...

Defence claims PC Stephen Lovell only submitted second statement after the CPS declined to charge Matildas star

Luis de la Fuente appears at trial of ex-federation chief Luis Rubiales who kissed Jenni Hermoso after she had just helped Spain win 2023 World CupThe coach of Spain's men's football team, Luis de la Fuente, has told the forced kiss trial of ex-federation chief Luis Rubiales that he initially knew nothing of the scandal's scale or efforts to silence it.Rubiales provoked worldwide outrage for the kiss on Jenni Hermoso after she had just helped Spain beat England in the 2023 World Cup final in Australia. Continue reading...

The actor, who played the Facebook founder in The Social Network, criticised Meta's decision to scrap factcheckersJesse Eisenberg, who received widespread recognition for his role as the Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, has said he no longer wants to be associated with someone like that".Eisenberg received his first Oscar nomination for his performance in the 2010 film, which portrayed the founding of the social networking website and was directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Continue reading...

Church said extremist group never paid $2.8m court judgment over 2020 attack during Trump rallyThe Proud Boys have lost control of their own name after the far-right extremist group subjected a Black church in Washington DC to a hateful and overtly racist" attack during the violent final days of Donald Trump's first presidency.The ruling Monday by Judge Tanya Jones Bosier of Washington DC's superior court grants the church - the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal church - power over how the Proud Boys moniker is used. Bosier's decision opens a pathway to seizing proceeds from the sale of any merchandise featuring the white supremacist group's name, logos and insignia, too. Continue reading...

Beijing will defend its core interests, but its initial response is more cautious than when Trump imposed levies in 2018Moments after Donald Trump introduced tariffs of 10% on Chinese goods, Beijing retaliated with countermeasures.China's finance ministry put tariffs of 10-15% on imports of a range of US goods and its anti-trust regulator announced an investigation into Google. Several US companies were also added to China's unreliable entity" list, potentially restricting their ability to conduct business in the country. Continue reading...

Babies the former nurse was convicted of killing were in fact victims of bad medical care' or died of natural causes, panel saysBabies the former nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering were in fact the victims of bad medical care" or deteriorated as a result of natural causes, an expert panel has concluded.Outlining what the senior Conservative MP David Davis described as one of worst injustices of recent times", the international team told a press conference there was no medical evidence" to support claims of deliberate harm. Continue reading...

Charlize Zmuda, 17, died after being bitten while swimming off Woorim beach, north of Brisbane, on Monday

Militias say decision is for humanitarian reasons', as UN says at least 900 killed in last week's fighting with DRC forcesThe Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who seized the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo last week have declared a unilateral ceasefire starting on Tuesday.The Congo River Alliance, a coalition of militias including M23, said it was declaring the ceasefire for humanitarian reasons". Flows of aid, food and other basic goods into the city were all but cut off by the M23 advance, and in recent days humanitarian organisations and the international community have stepped up calls for the creation of safe corridors to get vital items in. Continue reading...

Treatment of Gerald Flynn, who writes for the outlet Mongabay, condemned as attack on independent mediaA British environmental and investigative journalist has been banned from entering Cambodia, in what press groups have condemned as yet another attack on independent media by the country's authoritarian leaders.Gerald Flynn, who writes for the news outlet Mongabay, was denied entry to Cambodia on 5 January as he returned from a holiday, according to the publication, which said he was forced on to a plane and flown to Thailand. Continue reading...

Chinese national, 57, staying with her daughter in Australia died after Yun Sen Luo's advice to cease all western medicine'

The 82-year-old's body was found at Bemerside near Ingham on Tuesday morning after flood waters receded

Federal government under renewed pressure to prevent hate at its source' after wave of antisemitic attacks

Journalist tells federal court her drinking habits had gone from social to heavier in the year since she left the broadcaster

Author's former nanny accuses him of sexual assault and his estranged wife Amanda Palmer of procuring' her to be abusedA woman from New Zealand has filed a civil lawsuit against bestselling British author Neil Gaiman and his estranged wife, musician Amanda Palmer, accusing Gaiman of repeatedly sexually assaulting her while she was working as the couple's babysitter and nanny.Scarlett Pavlovich filed the lawsuit in federal court in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New York on Monday. Pavlovich previously publicly identified herself in an interview with New York magazine, which published an article in January detailing allegations of assault, abuse and coercion levelled at Gaiman by multiple women. Continue reading...

News comes after US secretary of state visited Panama to pressure the country over its ties with BeijingUS secretary of state Marco Rubio has welcomed Panama's decision to let its participation in China's global infrastructure plan expire, calling the move a great step forward" for its ties with the United States.Any move by Panama to distance itself from Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents a win for Washington, which has argued that Beijing uses the scheme for debt trap diplomacy" to cement its global influence. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Armour was supposed to be replaced in 2023 but that was delayed by four years under previous governmentMinisters have issued an emergency recall of 120,000 body armour plates used by the British military, amid accusations from Labour that the Conservatives failed to safely renew basic protection for troops during their time in office.Testing discovered microscopic cracks in ageing enhanced combat body armour (ECBA) which was supposed to be swapped out in 2023, but whose replacement was delayed by four years to make savings by the previous government. Continue reading...

Costings commissioned by Jim Chalmers suggest policy at risk of being rorted' could cost up to $10bn a year

Chris Minns says if more trips by transport minister came to light it would weigh very heavily on me' as premier announces we are changing the rules'The embattled New South Wales transport minister could be in hot water if further revelations emerge about her use of a ministerial car for private purposes, the premier has suggested.It emerged on the weekend that Jo Haylen had asked her chauffeur to take her and some friends to a winery lunch on the Australia Day weekend. It involved a 13-hour 446km round trip for the driver, from Sydney to Haylen's holiday house at Caves Beach and then a Hunter Valley winery and back. Continue reading...

Summary of care received by Valdo Calocane will be made public, but complete version to be kept confidentialNHS England (NHSE) has been urged to reconsider its decision to refuse to publish a report into the care received by Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane, despite the wishes of the victims' families.A summary of the independent mental health homicide report is due to be made public later this week, but the full version will be kept confidential due to data protection legislation relating to patient information", with only Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to be granted access. Continue reading...